Petronas Tower

Faculty:
Prof. S. P. Sapre

Efforts By:
Vipul Sonagara
(3108)
 About Petronas Tower
• Petronas Towers was the world’s tallest building from 1998 to 2004, until it
was surpassed by Taipei101. The tower itself is located at Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia with 88 habitable floors and 452 meters in height when
measured from the main entrance to its pinnacle.
• The prominent features of the towers are the double-decked sky bridge,
pinnacles and an advanced elevator system.
• The main use of the building is for office space although Retail , Hotel ,
Residential, Entertainment facilities are available.

Offices : Twin towers (designated for offices rather than a hotel) of approximately 85 tenantable
storeys; an additional 60 storey office tower, and a 30 storey office tower. Total gross area:
1,366,714 square meters.
Retail: A multi-level retail center of total gross area 699,654 square meters.
Hotel: a 1,800-room convention hotel and conference centre. Total gross area: 491,289 square
metres.
Parking: Integrated parking for 6,650 cars.
 Date of Starting – 1991
Date of Completion -1998
(Opened Aug 31, 1999)
Overall Height - 451.9m
from street level
(1483ft)
Height of Superstructure
(without pinnacle) - 378m (1240ft)
Number of Storeys - 88
Total built-up area -
341,760 Sq.Mt
Vertical Transportation
Total= 76 lifts
29 Double-deck high speed
passenger lifts in each tower.
Each double-deck can carry 26
persons.
Number of escalators - 10 in each
tower
Tip of longest pile to
tip of pinnacle mast -
592.4m (1944ft)
SKY BRIDGE
Levels - 41 and 42
Height - 170m from street level
(558ft)
Weight - 750 tonnes
Support - Two-hinge arch with
rotational pins (spherical
bearings) at Level 29, rising 63
degrees
 Design/Architecture Cesar Pelli & Associates (US) in association with KLCC architects

Structural engineer Thornton Tomasetti

Tower1: Hazama Corporation
Contractor Tower2: Samsung Engineering & Construction and Kukdong Engineering & Construction
City Center: B.L. Harbert International
Developer & Owner KLCC Holdings Sdn Bhd
Preceded by - Willis Tower
Record height
Surpassed by - Taipei 101
Constructed 1992 - 1998
Cost US$1.6 billion
Stainless Steel Cladding 65,000 sq m (700,000 sq ft)
Vision Glass 77,000 sq m (830,000 sq ft)
Concrete
(various strength up to 160,000 cu m in the superstructure
grade 80)
Steel 36,910 tonnes of beam, trusses and reinforcement

4.5m (15 ft) thick raft containing 13,200 cu m of grade 60 concrete, weighing approximately
Foundation 32,550 tonnes under each Tower, supported by 104 barrette piles from 60m to 115m in
length.

Building Control System Central management of air-conditioning and lighting

Card Access and Alarm Monitoring System, Closed Circuit Television System (CCTV), Voice
Building Security System
Intercom System, and Photo Identification System.
• Early 91 - Petronas is invited to become a partner in the Kuala Lumpur City Centre development.
• Mid 91 - International "by invitation only" design competition is held. Eight firms submit proposals.
• Aug 91 - Cesar Pelli's design is declared the winner.
• Aug 92 - Last race is held at the Turf Club and the land vacated.
• March 93 - Excavation work for the foundation begins.
• March 94 - Foundation for Tower One is ready and construction begins for Tower One. Construction
of Tower Two begins a month later in April. Construction of the cladding begins once the tower
reaches level nine. Construction of the annexe begins once the tower reaches level 19.
• May 95 - The pre-assembled skybridge arrives from Korea to the KLCC site.
• 7 Aug 95 - The lifting of the skybridge commences on this day.
• 10 Aug 95 - The skybridge is finally in place.
• 13 Feb 96 - Topping-up of both towers (everything's ready but the pinnacle) Jacking up of pinnacles
for both towers begins.
• 5 Mar 96 - Installation of pinnacle is completed for Tower Two.
• 11 Mar 96 - Installation of pinnacle is completed for Tower One.
• June 96 - Cladding is completed.
• April 96 - The Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat of Pennsylvannia, United States declared it
the world's tallest building.
• Aug 31 99 - Official opening by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
• The Petronas Towers are
strategically located in the
‘Golden Triangle’ of Kuala
Lumpur – a site that is central
not only geographically but also
symbolically. Large colonial villas
set in a relatively green area
next to the Selangor Turf Club
racecourse originally occupied
the zone.
• The floor-plate of the Tower is designed based on Geometric patterns common in
architecture of Islamic heritage.

• It is composed of two rotated and superimposed squares with small circular infills.
These geometric figures have been described by architects as symbolizing unity,
harmony, stability and rationality - all important principles of Islam.

• Like the exterior design, the Towers' entrance design was also inspired by the
country's cultural heritage, incorporating contemporary Malaysian motifs adapted
from traditional handicrafts such as "songket" and timber carvings. The overall
character of the building is high-tech and international but distinctively Malaysian.
Construction planning began in January 1992. By March 1993, the excavators were hard at work
digging down to 30 metres below the surface of the site.

The extent of excavation required over 500 truck-loads of earth to be moved every night.

The next stage was the single largest and longest concrete pour in Malaysian history: 13,200 cubic
metres of concrete was continuously poured through a period of 54 hours for each tower. This record-
breaking slab, together with 104 piles forms the foundation for each of the towers.
From this floor rose a 21-metre high retaining wall, with a perimeter length of over 1 kilometre. This
concrete shell and the basement area it enclosed required two years of up to 40 workers on site all day
and night.

The final product is the basement car parking offering a total of 5,400 parking bays on five levels
beneath the podium wrapping the towers.

As an added consideration, two different contractors were chosen for each tower to allow cross-
monitoring of construction values and techniques – with one coming to the aid of the other should
problems arise.

The construction of the superstructure commenced in April 1994, after rigorous tests and simulations of
wind and structural loads on the design.
The 'composite' structure of the Towers employs both the flexibility of steel and the rigidity of high-
strength concrete.

Each component material was used to best effect in constructing the 452 m-high buildings. About
80,000 cubic metres of high strength concrete with 37,000 tons of steel were used to form the frames
of both Towers.

Of particular importance was maintaining the verticality of the structures throughout the full height as
they were being built. The reason for this, besides reinforcing the aesthetic design, were to ensure
structural load integrity and the safe passage of the high-speed double-decker elevators.

The determination of verticality was monitored by international specialist surveyors who, with the aid
of global positioning systems, checked alignments every day and every night. The same surveyor used
the same instrument at the same time in every 24 hours, thereby minimizing any element of differences
in judgment.

Construction works were done primarily at night and finishing works were done primarily during the
day (to minimize the cost of artificial lighting). As a result, the entire management and construction
team redefined the Malaysian industry standard of 'fast-track'.
The PETRONAS Twin Towers were finally encased in steel and glass and could be viewed as complete
in June 1996.

The construction process also drew extensively from the local industry, with the finished towers
having over 60 percent local material content.

Malaysian made items included raw materials such as concrete and timber; finishing materials such
as marble, ceramic tiles and glass; pre-fabricated materials including dry-walls, doors, suspended
ceilings, and metal decking; equipment ranging from escalators to light fittings and sanitary ware;
also furniture of all types from work-stations to custom-designed suites.

Much of these materials were used in the process of internal finishing, which was then the focus of
work teams until the end of 1996.
These pictures show the cross section of
the tower.
The cross section shows TWO squares
interlocking to each other to form an
eight-point star shape, which is the most
common shape design in Islamic design.
Geometry is used as the main
concept of the design of Petronas
Twin Towers.

This design means:-

Unity (Perpaduan)
Harmony (Harmoni)
Stability (Stabil)
Rationality (Rasional)
The roof uses a lot of triangular shape structure to give a better
support to the building.
 The skybridge built between the two towers uses the
combination of rectangles and triangles structure to add
more strength and stability to the bridge.
 Erection of the skybridge

Support - Two-hinge arch with

rotational pins (spherical
bearings) at Level 29, rising 63
degrees
The top view from the sky bridge of Petronas Towers. It
shows the landscape of the roof design of the nearby
buildings. It portrays an intersecting symmetrical design.
 Reference…
• http://www.kiat.net/
• http://www.kiat.net/towers/reality.html to be
done
• http://www.yangsquare.com/petronas-tower-
in-detail/